There are numerous hand operated controls known as "joysticks" available in the prior art. Joysticks have numerous applications not only in the intuitive electric control of moving bodies, such as cranes, small vehicles, remote handling apparatus, robots, and aircraft, but also in the control of the movements of particular dots or images appearing for example on the screen of a cathode ray tube such as in video games. In a typical joystick, the joystick shaft has a neutral position which is generally perpendicular to the plane of the switches or contacts and is moveable about the x-y axes to control the device it is attached to. Known joystick assemblies of this type have the joystick shaft pivotable about the point at which it passes through the top of a housing, with the lower end of the shaft making contact with contacts or switches in appropriate switching positions. By hand manipulation of the joystick, the operator selectively causes a specific contact to complete a circuit which in turn activates a specific operational control (i.e. left turns, right turns, reverse movement, forward movement, etc.) Most joysticks also have a means for returning the joystick to a neutral position, such as a spring or other resilient means. Their limitations, until now, were that they were either too "hard" or too "linear", that is, they did not reflect the natural reaction of the hand, the brain, and the feedback nature of man.